Mafia don suspect tracked down via Facebook

Capo gets poked and cuffed

Italian police successfully used Facebook to track down a Mafia suspect.

Pasquale Manfredi, 33, who reportedly calls himself Scarface and allegedly runs the 'Ndrangheta mafia, was captured in Calabria using intelligence gleaned from the social networking site. Manfredi, who used the alias Georgie on Facebook, is suspected of using social networking to exchange coded instructions and stay in contact with other mobsters.

Manfredi, who was caught despite attempting to flee across the roof of an apartment building, faces charges of murder and drug trafficking, the BBC reports.

The father of two is blamed for organising the murder of alleged rivals Carmine Arena, in a bazooka strike in October 2004, and Pasquale Tripaldi a year later.

Italian police managed to track down Manfredi to an apartment in Isola Capo Rizzuto near Crotone in southern Italy using electronic surveillance equipment. They had received a tip-off that the alleged gang-land boss was a fan of social networking. Police are investigating whether any of his 200 Facebook "friends" are involved in la Cosa Nostra, the Sunadds.

A clip from police video taken at Manfredi's hideout can be found here. ®